New boss of A-Leagues’ referees to direct officials to allow more robust challenges and reduce VAR intervention

The new Head of Referees, former EPL official Jon Moss is set to shake up how the A-Leagues is officiated with more physicality allowed, much less VAR intervention and a few other rule changes, writes ERIN SMITH.

A-Leagues’ fans can expect a more physical brand of football and a lot less VAR intervention under the watchful eye of Football Australia’s new Head of Referees Jon Moss.

Moss, a former English Premier League referee and most recently the VAR Manager for the Scottish FA, has been in the country less than two weeks but he has wasted no time ensuring match officials, clubs and stakeholders are all on the same page when the season kicks off this weekend.

His top two directives to the officials, which are based on feedback from clubs, are to reduce VAR intervention and allow for more robust challenges.

Football Australia’s new Head of Referees Jonathan Moss (L) confronts former Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger during his time as a referee. Picture: AFP

Moss said the threshold for VAR had been greatly increased and the video referees would only intervene in the case of a clear and obvious mistake from the on field official.

“VAR has come under some scrutiny in terms of how much it intervenes into the game that is football, with the stop, start nature being almost intrusive,” Moss said.

“Just like in England and all around the world we are very much looking for a higher threshold for VAR, so that would be VAR in the background and only coming in when the match official is clearly wrong.”

VAR will not be used in the women’s league this season, which is in line with how the world’s best leagues currently operate. The decision was influenced by unsuitable infrastructure of match day venues, along with broadcast production and technology requirements.

Moss said Australian athletes were known for their physicality and he wanted that to come through in the A-Leagues.

This means there will be a higher tolerance for shoulder to shoulder, body to body contract – but at a level that still ensures players’ safety.

“We are not going to penalise everything or every time a player falls over,” Moss said.

VAR will not be used in the women’s A-League this season. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

There have been a few other rule changes such as the captain only rule – which will enforce the captain being the only player to approach or speak to a referee if a conflict arises.

Referees will take dissent seriously – this includes players who huddle around the referee or make gestures undermining the official’s decision – like kicking a ball away or waving an imaginary card around.

A handball law change has been made to bring the A-Leagues in line with other leagues. It means a non-deliberate handball which stops a goal has been downgraded from a red card to a yellow card.

There has been a slight adjustment to how extra time is calculated as well – instead of starting from the second a goal is scored – it will allow for 30 seconds before kicking in.

Player dissent will not be tolerated with a renewed focus from A-Leagues’ referees. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Like any changes Moss said it would take time for referees to adjust.

To ensure the referees are in top form a football analyst has been hired to watch every second of every match and provide feedback on the decisions in context to football.

Moss said the aim was to help the match officials develop broader football knowledge to improve their skills on the pitch and be able to adapt to every team’s different playing style.

Such as being aware which teams favour short corners and how they set up their free kicks – so the referee is always in the best position.

A more physical brand will order of the day under Moss. Picture: Mike Owen/Getty Images

There will be weekly debrief meetings where match officials will be shown clips on what went right and what didn’t from the weekend’s matches.

League organisers have also confirmed several changes for the season – including the way competition leaders are determined.

Last season the APL controversially made the number of wins the tie-break when it came to calculating ladder position – this season it will follow suit with the rest of the world and rate goal difference as the first priority after feedback from the Fan Representative Group.

There will be no points allocated for bye rounds in the men’s league.

Both the men’s and women’s competitions will have a Concussion Substitutes Policy. Each team will be able to make one additional substitute if a player suffers a concussion during the match. It doesn’t count towards the allowed number of substitutions in a match. The A-League men’s season kicks off this weekend, with the women’s launching on November 1.